Scottish Magic was written as a collaborative project - we were all friends & our stories are connected through the MacLaclan clan, & through time. Neesa & I travelled to Scotland together & we had the BEST time. Authors like the 2 of us aren't the partying type - we didn't go to bars or clubs - we went to ruins at midnight, got stuck in muddy fields, found ourselves in the 'back yard' of an -inhabited- castle, & generally got into trouble while our beloved agent, the late Joyce Flaherty, was wringing her hands in fear for our potential mischief. (she sent Neesa off with the ominous words, "Don't let Stobie lead!" But I care to point out that it was Neesa who uttered the words that still echo in my memory, 'Life is for living, not avoiding death.' Our trip reveals perhaps that a writer isn't logical. When I arrived, I was directed to a 'Fairy Crossing,' which I delightedly told Neesa, who then, calmly, informed me it was 'Ferry,' restraining the words 'you idiot.'  Then I read the words 'Viking Foodship' referring to a spot 4 hours north of our current location & I insisted we go there, as I envisioned tall, strong men with blond hair & bare chests, serving crispy ham & ale - Neesa pointed out that I was expecting the equivilant of Viking Disney in a remote Scottish spot, but I was undeterred -until, after the 4 hour drive through sheep, we came upon the small deli with plastic wrapped sandwiches, a little woman in a tiny giftshop & a guy who was reinacting the Charge of some famous Pict, whose battle cry went  on for pages, & which sent us into gales of laughter was we imagined his Pictish forces shifting from foot to foot, awaiting the end of the Battle Cry.  Then we sat in a small theater, just me & Neesa, & the performer, & being both well-ingrained Introverts, who hate any spotlight or attention upon us, we sat with forced idleness while the actor PERFORMED as if to a packed house (he did a good job, I think, but I was so embarrassed that I didn't really see much of it, & neither did Neesa.) 

Neesa & I were also in the Time Warner building when they had an explosion (which turned out to be a kitchen problem) - and we were interviewed by CNN (and THOSE are spotlights, which Neesa, being experienced from working in DC, handled well, but I cringed & suffered & wanted to flee) But Neesa had the cleverness to hold up our new cover - for Scottish Magic - when asked for our names... We had gone back into the building to retrieve the cover flats we'd just gotten that day from Zebra's VP.